Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Went in yesterday morning and the dentist put some UV cured epoxy in my tooth. That'll hold it over till the 19th when I go in for a crown. Yee-Haw.

Good training over the week.Friday:did some Met.Con:pull-upspinch grip deadliftskb swingsrow 250mcouple times.

Saturday:Class

then regular assistance work:fat rowsdipschinsgun show

Sunday: dinner party and broken tooth.

Monday:before class, did some wrestling drills, shot against the purple band (this was a great exercise.. there will be more of this). Then worked takedowns for a while. Regular class from there. Rolled with B. Chopper, and the Doctor. All good rolls though I pooped out on B. sorry man.

Tuesday,Miltary day week 3.. sorta.Forgot to bring my gym clothes to work, then forgot to write down the numbers I was supposed to hit.. Fail.I did manage to figure out what I needed to do.Ohp:5 at 1203 at 1406 at 1555 at 1155 at 115

Monday, December 21, 2009

I had some blog posts all composed in my head this weekend. Then Sunday, I broke a tooth. Now all I can think about is the stupid f@cking tooth. I used to have nightmares about my teeth crumbling and falling away. I hate the dentist. Not looking forward to the appointment tomorrow morning.Makes me feel old. Worn out, falling apart.Makes me feel like Shane Macgowan.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Ever have one of those days where everything you do hurts? Last night was that way for me. I was fooling around kicking a heavy bag (don't ask me why, there is no reason.. I'm dumb) and my ankle still hurts. I was working takedowns with Paul and scratched myself in the back of the neck. Got cross-faced and bit the crap out of my tongue. Nothing's injured, but lots of little annoying stuff.All in all though good work on takedowns, a couple sweet chokes, and couple of good rolls last night. I'm feeling sluggish, but am seeing opportunities, hopefully next month when I am focusing less on the weight room and more on the mats I'll get my speed back.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Thoughts:Paul Buentello is a damn fun fighter to watch, win or lose. He needs to figure out what Brock Lesner taught Frank Mir: heavyweights have to lift heavy weights. (more on that below)

The change of camps was good for Kenny Florian. He needed a change of scenery after the loss to B.J. Penn. We won't know if the change of camps was good for Clay Guida for a few more fights. Kenny changed to drop off the baggage of the loss. Guida changed camps to train with fighters who are better than he is, and improve his game. The latter takes longer than the former.

Jon Fitch needs to make up with the matchmakers at Zuffa. He's constantly getting horrible match-ups for him.. but he keeps winning.

Frank Mir.. where to start. New Trainer: Mark Dellagrotte, New strength and conditioning coach: Mark Philippi (who has forgotten more about getting people strong than many people know) and one of the best Jiu-jitsu instructors in the world (Robert Drysdale)He's pushing the weight limit, He looks strong, motivated, and 100% committed, even though I think he's grating and cocky I think he's taken his game to a whole different level.That said, I am sick and tired of people who don't know BJJ talking about how Frank is "the greatest BJJ practitioner in MMA." He's a good black belt. He has that thing in his brain that makes him want to finish fights. He is very good at finding submissions in scrambles and forcing them till the guy taps, but that is far from the "best."The arm bar that broke Tim Sylvia's arm is a perfect example. Sylvia was out. He got his elbow to the mat, Frank just happens to be strong enough that that didn't matter. He was able to break the bones of Sylvia's forearm where a smaller guy would have to attack the elbow.Could he sub me? probably. Does he chain submissions together as well as Miguel Torres? No. Does he use jiu-jitsu to control his opponents as well as Damien Maia? Not even close. So let's let it go. Frank's a finisher, and has a great guard for a big man, but that does not mean he's "the best jiu-jitsu player in MMA."

Cheick Kongo, Mir was right. Work on becoming a complete fighter, or go back to kickboxing.

Deigo Sanchez's wrestling is overrated, even I fell for the hype. He's a good high school wrestler, but it's going to take more than that to get B.J. Penn fighting off of his back. Is Grey Maynard good enough to do it? I hope we find out soon.

B.J. Penn credit's his win to Marv Marinovich. On the countdown show they showed some of the training that B.J. Penn was doing leading up to this fight. Lots of balance work, lots of 'running cones', lots of machine work. Pretty much everything in the "training for the circus/speed camp hand book."It's hard to say with the brief bits that were shown to know the reasons those movements were used. Who knows; B.J. is hypermobile, he might need ankle stabilization that unstable surface training provides. For B.J. the most important thing is that he works hard, even if the training is sub-optimal as far as power output, and rate of force development; with his talent if he's entertained and works hard then he'll be a better fighter than if he avoids the gym. Isn't that is the ultimate goal?That said, I don't think he's working optimally, but it's hard to say when you've never trained that particular athlete. It'll be interesting to see how B.J.'s condition and strength progress (or not) as he continues to train this way.

Bonus: Multiple time WSM winner Mariusz Pudzianowski had his MMA debut. If you search youtube you can still find it. Youtube keeps pulling it down for copy-write infringement, and people keep re-posting it. I'll save you the trouble: Mariusz leg kicks the guy a couple times, damn near taking him off his feet with every kick. He pins his opponent against the ropes and just 'big brothers' him to the ground (grab head push to mat). Then hammerfists the guy into next week. Interesting, but in a circus side-show kind of way.

Training this week:Monday:Day:Fat grip rows:3x12 at 135

dips:15-12-10 at bw

chins:some

Gun show: get your tickets!

BJJ:couple cool sweeps from guard leading to chokes. Good stuff. Good roll with Brian. Gassed at the end. Technical roll with Michelle, working on my guard. Lots of fun. I finally have some pants that are decent to go with my white Kimono. The ones that came with it never fit. I had some cheap ones from OTM, that I got in California at the Pan-ams. They were made from super heavy canvas. I swapped them out with these from Atama. Incredible improvement. Much lighter, more freedom of movement.. and actually about the same price. Total win.

This morning's lift:bench:3 at 1603 at 18510 at 2055 at 1755 at 175Was a little sore going into this session, so I'm happy with the numbers.

Monday, December 14, 2009

I am trying to sell some stock. I bought the IPO of a company I worked for years ago. The stock immediately went into the crapper, but I hung on to it and now the wife and I have decided to sell it to take the loss for tax reasons (all very adult, I know) Well without the stock cert you have to take a test.. a YOU test. They ask you some questions about your life (I've no idea where they get the information) and if you answer them correctly you get the proverbial keys to the kingdom. Well, I failed the 'Me test.' The address they asked about sounded familiar, but wasn't in any of the cities that were my multiple choices. Either that, or I don't know myself as well as I thought I did. Stupid Monday morning.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

I am passionate about training, but I makes sure not to get inamorate of specific methods. If something works, use it, if it stops working change.I was speaking to someone recently about training, and realized that the main "talent" I have in training (and maybe in life) is that I can keep things at arms length. If it works I use it. If not, figure out the weak point and go after it. The same holds true for my day job. Computers and particularly computer networks don't care what you want to do. They either work or they don't. The only time I get emotional about training, or computing is people who are dishonest with their clients/customers/themselves.In computing, the Macintosh zealots are a prime example. I truly loathe them (and I'm probably going to piss off a lot of people, but hear me out) you buy a Mac, it works great for a few years (and yes, I'm a PC person who admits Macs work great in the short term) until it runs out of support and you have to buy a whole new computer. It's disposable. You can't replace hardware, you are limited in how far you can upgrade, you use it as you bought it, or admit the whole thing is no longer valid and throw it away. PCs are not limited. You buy the hardware from the open market, and the OS from Microsoft. If a piece of the hardware breaks or becomes the limiting factor, replace it. If the OS, or one application becomes the limiting factor, upgrade. Each part is separate, which means you have to manage/fix it yourself. You have to take responsibility for how well it works. With a Mac you just chuck the whole thing and the fruit purveyors tell you what you need next. The truth is, you like your Mac because you'd rather throw it out than figure out what the limiting factor is and work on it.The same holds true for a lot of people in the gym. I was walking around the gym today, and realized that I've been going to this gym for just about 18 months. In that time I've gotten significantly thicker in my upper shoulders, hips, and back. My deadlift has gone up, my 1a row has gone up, my bench and OHP have gone up. My hip mobility is better. Every one else in there (with few exceptions) look exactly the same.There are two guys in there who have been training with the trainer at this gym that whole time. They are in there with him nearly every day that I am. They are busting their butt doing everything he asks, but they look exactly the same as they did 18 months ago. More over, they're doing the exact same things they were 18 months ago. What are they paying for? Is that trainer so limited in what he knows that he can't do anything about it? Is he just so invested in his "method" that he won't admit there needs to be a change?It's ok to change your mind. It's ok to admit that the training program or computer you pulled out of the box isn't going to be what you need forever. That doesn't mean you were wrong when you bought it. It doesn't mean you need to chuck the whole thing. It just means your needs have changed. Maybe technology has changed. What is wrong is to dogmatically hold on to ideas or objects in spite of their effectiveness. To get emotionally invested and not look honestly at what you are doing, and take responsibility for its efficacy.

EDIT: I've been thinking about this post a lot. I want to be clear. If you use your Mac, and love it, good for you. You're not the person I'm referring to.There are certain instances where I would recommend a Mac to people.. they are few and far between, but they do exist. The people that get my goat are the "PCs Suck" people. Generally these people are either spouting outdated information, Mac propaganda, or some combination. I get it: PCs are harder, you don't want to bother. Good for you. I like them, and more over as an IT professional, I don't want to support Macs because we can't fix them in-house, and I'm limited to buying hardware from a single source and they're unnecessarily expensive. The whole point of the post is the right tool for the right reason for the right job without emotional attachment.

Yesterday's training:snatch: worked up to 1x135clean and jerk: worked up to 1x205some light conditioning.

Today's training:Deads week 23 at 315 (it was supposed to be 305, but I couldn't be fussed to pull out all of the bits and pieces)3 at 3509 at 3955 at 3155 at 315

Wow, what a messy weekend.. not that messy is bad, just a mess.Thursday was spent in airports. My plane broke down before it got to Seattle, so I got on a different far later flight. Thankfully I have Netflix and a broadband internet card, so I watched the Boondock Saints in the airport. I made it to my hotel at 1 am local time. I was starving, there was no food. I got a gas station burrito and some milk and called it good. Got up at 5:45 local time (3:45 Seattle time) and went to work. I worked for 12 hours straight setting up the network and phone system and headed to Madison to hang out with my brother. Met him and his lovely wife at the bowling ally, and hung out for a couple of hours. We went back to his HUGE suburban home and watched V for vendetta on his ginormous TV. I got up at 7 on Saturday and headed to Ford's gym in Madison. The map I had of the place only showed about a 5 block radius, I was a solid 8 miles away. I used the force and found it. I drove right past it as I needed coffee before I was about to do any training. I went to Mermaid cafe, and got some fantastic coffee.Ford's is an amazing place. Everything I would want in a gym. 3 platforms, chalk, Kettlebells, strongman equipment, all manner of boxing gear.. awesome. I did some mobility work, and foam rolling to warm up, and then some brief intervals on the airdyne, before Jesse and Doc showed up. We talked about warming up, and a few other things, I helped out with some deadlift technique. They were both pretty good, minor changes in foot position, and Doc pulled a respectable 125. Then they had to go run their park workout. My brother was feeling a little neglected so I compromised and promised to be back at his place by 11.I did some deadlifts:5x3 at 405Fat bar rows:worked up to 5 at 150some grip work and light conditioning.While I was working the Ford's gym PL team were benching. I saw a guy who was at least as old as my dad put up 600lbs. Very impressive. If you're ever in Madison, go there, train and get stronger.From there I had breakfast with and hung out with my bro and his wife. The plan was to meet folks out at a sports bar, then go to the Wisco hockey game (I love hockey).At 3 we (Chico and I) met up with Jesse, Dr. 1% and their friend Eric at some sports bar. It was loud, and I almost immediately got a headache. I started drinking water like crazy hoping that if I re-hydrated it would go away. It didn't, but things were fun, and my spirits were high, so what the heck. We're all sitting around chatting, and some old geezer with a Santa Claus beard walks by makes an inappropriate comment to doc. Now he looks to be a regular, and probably gets away with it with these college kids. My brother looks at me and says "Awkward!" I'm fuming. Every part of me wants to break this old fart into 126 little pieces, but I'm restraining myself.The old fart says "I thought it was funny."I look around and say "well that makes.. 1 of us." In unison with my brother strangely enough.He replies with something about I shouldn't be looking at him the way I am, and how he could yadda yadda yadda.I have brief fantasies about doing horrible things to this guy, and decide to just laugh in his face. Either he'll punch me and I can beat the snot out of him without being the @sshole who beat up a 60 y/o man for mouthing off, or he'll go away.He went away. I was still shaking I was so angry.The old guy came back and said something about how us white folks were going down. He was about as white as my Irish behind, but he left and didn't say another word to us the rest of the night, so I was satisfied.We hung out for a good while longer and had a good time, I had to pull the plug on the hockey game, my head was killing me, and I wanted to spend more time with everyone. We went out to a very nice meal. The waitress explains the specials, one of which is a 'duck confit.' She leaves us to chat, and then comes back several minutes later to take our order. Since Duck confit is one of my favorite things in the world I order that.She says "Duck, we don't have duck."I give her a funny look. She says "we have a rabbit confit." Our whole table gives her a funny look. I shrug "OK, great. I'll have that."My brother looks at me when the waitress walks away, and says "Dude, she said duck."We have some fabulous salume as an appetizer, and then the meal arrives. The rabbit comes, and it is no more 'confit' than it is gold plated. It was fried.. It was tasty and delicious, but my country taste buds know fried rabbit when they get ahold of it.All in all a great weekend, my trip home was uneventful. The movie on the plane was a cool documentary called "It might get loud."Trailer is below.

Loads of thanks to all of my hosts, I hope they had as good a time as I.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

This weekend I have to head to Milwaukee for work, so I'm going to stop by Madison and hang out with my brother, Jesse, and Dr. 1%. Should be fun. The high for the weekend is supposed to be 30. Guess I'll have to bring my 'big boy' coat.

Training:Saturday:went to class rolled a bit, learned some things. After that went to the gym.Did:Fat bar rows 3x12 at 135dips 15 at bw super setted with chins amap x3some gun show work

Who am I..

A bjj black belt, a self professed 'muscle nerd," computer geek, book snob, father of two, former vegetarian, and smoked meat aficionado. As Walt Whitman said:
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am vast, I contain multitudes.)
I welcome your opinions, input, commiseration, or disdain.
jbzero at msn dot com.